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Ask anyone what their favourite smell is, and 90% of the time they’ll say it’s old books. (For the other 10% it’s either freshly baked bread or the aftershave of a long-dead but beloved relative.) Everyone loves old books, even people who’ve only managed half a Ben Elton paperback on holiday since 1999, like my […]

Before I went to the Design Museum for Paul Smith’s exhibition, ‘Hello, My Name is Paul Smith’, I knew next to nothing about the man except he likes stripes, flamboyant suits, and that I can’t afford anything he makes. (This was confirmed in the gift shop: £155 for a scarf. Bugger that for a game […]

There isn’t a whole lot of natural rock in Central London, but there are a fair few climbing walls where urban outdoorsy types can work out their wholesome urges. One such place is the Arch in Bermondsey, which can be found on a Saturday afternoon quite literally full to the rafters with lean, mean bouldering […]

Who would have thought that a station’s drippy underbelly would ever become the home of London’s largest and best-loved food market? Stuffed to the rafters with the assorted wares of the motley gaggle of traders, the place is a kaleidoscope of nature’s bounty, filled with fresh produce, cheeses the size of wagon wheels and meat from […]

I love wine. A decentish bottle is the cheapest, most sure-fire way to get completely and utterly wankered before a big night out, right? But apparently there’s this thing where you actually let the stuff slosh around on your tongue for a bit before sending it down to your long-suffering liver for processing. ‘Tasting’, I […]

In London, where you must cough up £25 upfront before riding a very slow Ferris wheel or a very high elevator, a pay-what-you-want walking tour is a rare and unusual thing. Obviously, though, you’ll be in for some dark looks and bad karma if you do turn up and leave without handing over at least […]

The Old Operating Theatre Museum is a restored garret hidden away just up Borough High Street. You can only get at it by climbing three flights of mental-steep spiral stairs, which means that – ironically – the oldest operating theatre in Europe can only be reached by the able-bodied, but once up there there’s a […]